My good friend Amanda VanHorn has an awesome fireman boyfriend (Rodney), who was nice enough to get ahold of some fireman pants for me. I purchased the muscle shirt and cut off the sleeves and made it a little tighter. 'Cause your muscles gotta be tight!
The night before the race, they had some hints on facebook which my sister sent to me, as I'm not on facebook anymore (because it's lame). They don't really make a whole lot of sense, but here were my thoughts:
a. Reach out and touch someone: That's something to do with a phone - AT&T motto. b. Where it ends, a new journey begins: I thought that might have something to do with the cultural trail crossing another trail path or something like that. d. They respond to just a few digits: I thought maybe that would be a pager... d. Toot, toot: That is the steam clock on the canal. e. 3,459: After googling it I found that there is a memorial on the canal commemorating 3,459 individuals.
The race began and finished at Indy Colts Grille downtown. Once we all got there (which was a little stressful in itself), we got our race packets and bibs and sat down to have a bite to eat (and I had a beer).
Kim acted as our team captain and got the clues for us. We immediately set out to get to the first clue.
1. Across from a bar named for a New Orleans street and a museum named for a famous author born in Indy in 1922, you'll find a white pole dedicated to a simple, inspirational concept. Pose with the pole and flash the right sign with your fingers in the photo - it'll make sense when you get there!
After finding the first clue, we thought it would be smart to figure out all the clues and come up with a plan as to what route to take. That way we wouldn't be wandering all over downtown. While Kim and I were looking up facts and routes on our iPhones, Cammie and Tracy found the answer to clue #10.
10. Wow, so many choices, choices, choices: take a photo with any ONE of the following: a live horse, a time capsule, any out-of-state license plate whose license number contains a W, X, Y or Z, a Segway transporter, or shaking hands with a dog.
From there, we headed to go to the Firestation on Ohio and West Streets, but found the answer to clue #7 on the way.
7. Finda anyone from a state that borders the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, or Gulf of Mexico (Great Lakes don't count). When you locate them, take a photo with them making the shape of their state with your team's arms. (Take a photo with the top half of their license to prove you found them... it's best to cover up their name/address etc.)
We found a lady from Virginia, but forgot to make the shape of the state with our arms. Oops!
After that, we walked to the fire station for clue #3.
3. You'd think the guys (and gals!) working in this hazardous a profession wouldn't number their house unlucky "#13" but it exists nonetheless right here in Indy, one of 45 total of these facilities, housing 1,216 total personnel. Pose with any of them or a memorial to them or their trucks or where they work when on duty and take a photo acting out their job.
In true "Magic Mike" form, everybody hold your hose!
We walked from the fire station down to the canal to grab our picture with the steam clock, clue #4.
4. Because the Earth's rotation is (very) gradually slowing down, "a leap second" was added to the official time of our planet last month, the first added since January 2009 and just the 25th ever added. To celebrate your extra time, your team should do its best exuberant "leap" photo in front of the only steam-powered clock in the city (and one of only 5 on the planet!). But here's the Challenge - you've got to take your leap when the minute hand is pointing at a number, so :05, :10, etc. (If you happen to do it on :15, :30, :45, or the hour, you'll get a special treat) - do your best to get a great leap in the photo but there's no need for perfection in making sure everyone's feet are off the ground.
After a quick restroom break (thank you State Museum!), we headed down the canal for clue #6, but ran into clue #12 first.
12. With only pro baseball going on right now, it's the Summer doldrums in the professional sports world (but don't worry... football is around the corner! H.S. games were on last night!) - so find ANY NON-Indiana-located COLLEGE sports fan wearing a hat, jersey, shirt, etc. and take a photo with them mimicking the sport their team plays - as long as it's not a fellow Challenger, it can't take place in/adjacent to Colts Grille and you can't just throw a hat on someone in a sports store!
We found a guy with a Kentucky University hat and chose to mimic basketball.
Then we kept right on until we got to clue #6.
6. This Challenge's objective is out outlier: the furthest away from home base, so you may want to strategically skip it if you can figure out the others. You'll find this settler's rock at the end of where one famous Indy waterway dumps into another much larger waterway. Climb as far up on it as you can in the photo-if your team needs it!
It really wasn't that far away. It's the rock right in front of the NIFS entrance on the canal.
We looped back around to the other side of the canal to get to the memorial across from the state museum, which was clue #2.
2. Exactly, 3,459 individuals have been awarded this highest honor in the land-including one woman, M.E. Walker. This memorial in Indy honors all of them, on the site where the city's first Independence Day celebration was held. To complete this clue, take a photo with a name on the panels that matches that of one of your teammates OR any U.S. President's first or last name.
You can pretty much always find a Smith.
From the canal, we headed to the circle because two of the clues were there. While walking to the canal we happened across clue #5, which we were pretty sure was going to be really hard to do.
5. Well, it'd be hard for you to not notice there's a couple other gathering going on downtown other than the Challenge. On one hand, we've got the video-game-playing nerds in town for the Gen Con meeting, and on the other, the thousands of motorcyclists here to watch the Moto GP races. Probably not much overlap in these crowds, so your unique Challenge is to bridge the gap: have your team take a photo with at least one badge-wearing Gen Con attendee with at least one motorcylcist-in the same shot!
On our way we took a couple photos for funsies. Cammies felt like she needed to do a little work and Tracy found a car she liked.
Got down to the circle for the last two clues we needed to finish the race: clue #9 and clue #11.
11. Of the six companies based in Indiana in the 2012 Fortune 500, three of them call Indianapolis home. Find any one of their headquarters, pose with their sign, and act out what you think their main product/service is - with some creativity! You'll find that just one is downtown proper - so we'll also let you pose with the plaque marking the HISTORICAL headquarters of another one whose modern-day digs are a little farther away.
Wellpoint. Cammie is checking Kim's tonsils and Tracy is giving me a shot.
9. Though Indiana's had just one native U.S. President (Benjamin Harrison), there are TONS of statues of some of the other 42 men to hold the office scattered around town. Find the one of the guy who was only Commander-in-Chief for 32 days. Once you find his statue, ascend the nearby iconic monument - and hike up the stairs until you reach as high as the number that Indiana was of the states entering the Union. Upon reaching that level, spell out I-N-D-Y with your teams bodies in the photo-getting as much of the monument in the background as you can!
William Henry Harrison:
Got back to the finish line and checked in. We got a commemorative photo in front of the Challenge Nation poster and got a beer together. Well, I got a beer. Hahaha.
We didn't get to stay for the costume contest, but it was a fun day regardless. Kim went home to see her husband who was coming in that day and she hadn't seen in 10 weeks. Tracy went home to get ready for her step-dad's birthday party. Cammie and I finished out the day by doing a little socializing. We headed over to Flat 12 to meet up with a few of my friends that had done a different adventure race earlier in the day.
Here are a few of the pictures:
WHAT A FUN DAY!!! (Sorry for punking out on you during the movie Cammie: I was tired..)
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